


We Won’t Get Life Again

by deathishauntedbyhumans



Series: MML Discord Drabbles [7]
Category: Milo Murphy's Law
Genre: Alternate Universe, Developing Relationship, Human Perry the Platypus, La Tomatina Festival, M/M, Wordcount: 1.000-3.000, Zindagi na Milegi Dobara, motorcycle mention, out of context
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-22
Updated: 2019-08-22
Packaged: 2020-10-01 17:37:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,015
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20352943
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deathishauntedbyhumans/pseuds/deathishauntedbyhumans
Summary: After participating in a tomato-throwing festival in Spain, Cavendish and Dakota take a walk together and get to know one another to give Doofenshmirtz some alone time with Perry.





	We Won’t Get Life Again

**Author's Note:**

> *rubs hands together* So... here we are. 
> 
> This is a funky little AU that I... may or may not do more with someday in the future? The storyline of the entire AU follows a Hindi film called _Zindagi na Milegi Dobara_, which is a fun three-hour movie that follows a group of three young men on a bachelor trip through Europe to participate in three different extreme sports before one of them gets married. I have a weird dumb soft spot for the film, and push came to shove one night and... well, _this_ was born.

“Hey! Hey, Cavendish, man! I need a favour.”

Disgruntled, Cavendish turned away from Dakota to find Doofenshmirtz approaching them with a puppy-eyed look on his face. Cavendish just barely ignored the urge to smack it off of him. 

“What?”

“Can you and Dakota just… y’know. Take a little walk?” Doofenshmirtz asked, sounding like he was implying something_ more _than the mere words he was saying. He clapped his hands together in a plea. “It’s a nice night, you can… I don’t know, look at the stars? Just… give me an hour, yeah?”

“It’s late,” Cavendish replied with a frown. “We’re tired. We’ve been travelling all day. Why would we take a—?”

“We’ll take a walk,” Dakota interrupted smoothly, and Cavendish looked to him in shock. Dakota had a knowing smirk painted onto his features. 

Whatever Doofenshmirtz and Dakota were silently communicating about was flying _completely _over Cavendish’s head. His frown deepened, especially when Doofenshmirtz blew a kiss towards Dakota. 

“You’re a real one, man!” Doofenshmirtz said, and Dakota laughed, waving him off. 

After Doofenshmirtz had hustled off back in the direction of the hotel room they were all sharing, Cavendish finally shook his head. “What was that all about?” 

Dakota shook his head, still smiling. Cavendish didn’t think he’d _ stopped _smiling since the moment they’d met, actually. It was a nice look on him. If Cavendish got to see that smile every day for the rest of his life, he would be all the better for it. 

“I think he’s into Perry. I just hope Perry doesn’t get him into any trouble.”

Cavendish digested this slowly. “I don’t know if _Perry _is the one you have to worry about. He seemed... nice enough?” Granted, Perry had only been around for the last day or so, but he hadn’t caused the kind of trouble that Doofenshmirtz had a habit of getting into yet, so he was alright by Cavendish’s standards. 

Dakota chuckled. 

“No, don’t get me wrong. He’s super nice. He’s just a… uh, oh, um, whatdy’ya call it…” Dakota snapped his fingers a couple of times with a look somewhere just to the south of constipated. “Oh! Junkie?” He cocked his head to the side, squinting. “No, um. Adrenaline! Adrenaline junkie.” The confusion melted away, replacing itself with a smile. “He likes to do things like... like La Tomatina and… y’know, the extreme sports that you and your friends are doing? He owns a motorcycle and everything.”

As fun as Dakota’s friend (and his alleged relationship with _ Doofenshmirtz_, ugh) was to talk about, Cavendish was much more interested in Dakota himself. So he nodded politely, trying all the while to find a segue into a more captivating topic. 

Dakota beat him to it. “You work in London, right?” he asked after a beat of silence passed between them. He gestured towards the door of the hotel lobby, and Cavendish began walking with him. 

“Yes, I do. I moved there as soon as I was old enough to go out on my own.”

Dakota nudged him gently. “You don’t seem very happy about it.”

Cavendish blinked in confusion. Around them, the streets were still full of tourists and locals alike, all in various states of tomato-covered from the festivities earlier in the day. Dakota sidestepped a pair of children playing on the sidewalk and wound up momentarily brushing against him in the process, and Cavendish felt his heart skip a beat. 

“What do you mean?” he asked defensively, trying desperately to pull himself back to the conversation and not to focus on the softness of Dakota’s hand where they’d touched. “I have a life there, a job. A job that pays _ very _well, I might add—“

“Money isn’t everything, Cavendish,” Dakota interrupted. His tone was light, almost teasing, but Cavendish felt himself turning red regardless. He turned his face away from Dakota’s softened gaze as they rounded a corner. 

“You don’t know me.” 

“What?” Dakota was walking closer to him again, presumably because the street they’d stumbled onto was narrower than the main road they’d just come from. 

“I said, you don’t know me. So you can’t judge me for—“

Dakota stopped walking and grabbed Cavendish’s hand, pulling until Cavendish paused as well. Dakota ducked a little, until he was directly in front of Cavendish’s face, and placed his free hand upon Cavendish’s shoulder. “Hey. I’m not judging you, Cavendish. I just… I think you deserve to be happy. When you talk about your work, your job in London... You don’t _ seem _ happy_.” _

Cavendish swallowed hard. Nothing he could say felt _ right, _so he didn’t say anything at all. 

“_Are _you happy?” Dakota asked softly. 

Despite the general bustle around them of people walking into and out of buildings, of vendors along the side of the road with their wares, of snatches of conversation in more languages than Cavendish knew, there was absolute silence in the space between himself and Dakota for a long, pregnant moment. 

“My father died when I was very young,” Cavendish said softly. “My mother had to support a family by herself. We had very little money. As soon as I could, I found a job that paid well and moved to London to help her. It’s what I had to do.” He shifted out of Dakota’s grip, turning his face to the ground once more. 

Dakota still had a hold on his hand, though, and he squeezed it gently before letting go. “That’s sweet of you,” he said, and he sounded like he meant it. There was a smile in his voice when he continued, “But you didn’t answer my question. Does your job make you happy?”

Cavendish huffed. “_ Yes, _alright? My job makes me happy!”

When he snuck a glance at Dakota, it was to find a small, knowing smile on his face. It was as endearing an expression as it was frustrating. 

Dakota hummed. Without saying anything else, he reached out and retook Cavendish’s hand. He laced their fingers together and tugged lightly to prompt him to start walking again. Surprised, it was all Cavendish could do to follow. 

**Author's Note:**

> _La Tomatina_ is a festival in that takes place in Buñol, Spain, where “participants throw tomatoes and get involved in a tomato fight purely for entertainment purposes.” 
> 
> Perry is human and Deaf in this AU; he only knows sign language, which Dakota also knows, as they’ve been friends for awhile. Doofenshmirtz, along with Cavendish and Brick, are the three friends who are on a road trip together. Doof is very much not Deaf, and does _not_ know any sign language. He’s not about to let that stop him from Getting Some, though ;))
> 
> Kudos/comments are love! Come scream at me on tumblr @deathishauntedbyhumans.


End file.
